Letter to the Editor

President Barack Obama

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Hello, my name is Julia Carney. I have lived in Scituate Massachusetts for most of my life. I’m in ninth grade and I go to Scituate High School. I am writing this letter to try and raise awareness of the injustices faced by American Indians. I feel that this subject doesn't get the attention that it needs and hopefully my letter will help it be heard. 

I huge injustice that American Indians face is racism. When most people think of racism the first thing that comes to their minds is racism against African Americans or Asians. Many people forget about the American Indians, but they too have faced and still continue to face racism and stereotypes. Many American Indians still live on reservations, where many facilities are unavailable to them. There are also bad job conditions at the reservations and a lack of education and poverty. American Indians face the highest rate of school drop outs, child mortality, suicide, and teenage pregnancy, and the lowest rate of life expectancy. 

It is important that this issue is treated with compassion because it is a sensitive subject since it involves a large group of people’s everyday lives. American Indians are the original inhabitants of America and they faced a hard time when the Europeans invaded the continent. The government did not care about them and they were thought of as being not culturally developed.  The issue has been going on for hundreds of years and although it has gotten a lot better, there are still many injustices that they face. Some American Indians have hostility towards non-American Indians because of the way that they have been treated by them. 

Sincerely,
Julia Carney

Original Poem

Without Love

she stood and thought of her dreams

how could she have dreams if she had nothing to love?

and no one to stand with her and to be on her team

she started to realize that nothing is more important or above

being able to have someone on your side to root for you and scream

or being close to a person that you know everything of 

she decided to let herself open up and let people in

she was tired of living life so plain and dry 

if she never tried she knew she’d never win

and soon it became clear that this was something you could never buy

love is part of human nature and its in everyone, thick or thin

how can one live without love? I know I would not want to try

Song Review

The song “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Huston shows how love is essential. The song was originally sung and written by Dolly Parton, but became popular for Whitney Huston’ s cover of it. Dolly Parton wrote it in 1973 and released it as a single in 1974.  Whitney Houston recorded the song for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, her film debut. Houston's version was a massive worldwide success, appearing at number 49 on Billboard's "Greatest Songs of All Time.” Her (1992) version of the song became one of the best-selling singles of all time. When Huston died, the song was even played at her funeral as her casket was brought out of the church. 
The song accurately portrays how love is really the most essential thing in life. For example, the song says “And I hope you have all you've dreamed of, and I wish you joy and happiness, but above all this I wish you love”. Even though she wishes these other things for the person, the thing that she wishes the most for them is love. This shows how love is essential because even if you have all these other things, you can never be truly happy unless you have love. 

The Burden of My Race

Nobody would miss me

I stood alone

I was absolutely confused

If I disappear nobodies going to notice

I was a stranger in a strange land

Weak and poor and scared

They called me names

Worthless and stupid

I was a human punching bag

I was damaging my damage

They stared hard

I was a freaky alien

Nobody wants to be a loser

Where is the hope?

I was carrying the burden of my race